Category: Reviews

Ron Jacobsohn Reviews The Mummy

This third reboot of The Mummy for Universal Pictures and a lot is riding on this big money-making machine for the studios being the franchise has already earned over a billion and a half dollars.

The star of the new The Mummy is Tom Cruise, who gets to fight an ancient Egyptian princess awoken from her tomb and now angry enough to want to take over the world, with the help of Mr. Cruise, if he wants it or not.

This 125-million-dollars budgeted movie is so heavy on the special effects it has almost but forgotten it wants to tell a story too. For Alex Kurtzman, big-budgeted effects-filled flicks are very new as a director, so maybe it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise he got lost between all the effects and the narrative. The one thing you can’t mistake is that this is a Tom Cruise driven vehicle. If you are a Tom Cruise fan, this shouldn’t bother you too much, as you should be used to it. Rumor has it that, Cruise had final approval on everything in this flick.

Universal is hoping to create a trilogy of this reboot, which it entitled Dark Universe, yet it will all depend on how well it will fair at the box office if the studio will keep pouring money into it. The studio needs a new blockbuster franchise but it remains to be seen if the rebooted The Mummy will fill that void.

I was somewhat entertained but not enough, so I heavy-heatedly have to give it a Thumbs Down.

June 8, 2017
Ron Jacobsohn Reviews Wonder Woman

With so many flops in recent years, with their DC Comics movies, it is refreshing to see Warner Bros. finally getting it right.

Patty Jenkins was the perfect choice to direct the re-imaging of this superhero icon. Hiring Israeli-born actress, Gal Gadot, gave the writers the freedom to reinvent Diana Prince as the mythological creature she was in the comics and less of the all-American hero she was in the 70’s television show.

In this movie, Prince is portrayed as an Amazonian who fights for America, so Gadot’s accent is a big asset, not a handicap.

The movie is a blast of fresh air, a superhero tailored exactly to what we need this summer. Gadot is powerful, empowering, compassionate, driven by purpose while not forgetting to be entertaining.

This movie is not about the superhero beating up the villains, but rather about the humanity and the characteristics that made Diana Prince into Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman has undoubtedly raised the bar for superhero movies, and I am curious to see how the guys in the DC universe will live up to those standards.

Director Patty Jenkins with Gal Gadot and Chris Pine gives the audience a full return on their investment and a certain sequel order from the studios.

I loved almost every minute of this one hundred and forty-one-minute thrill ride; I give it a THUMBS UP!

June 2, 2017
Ron Jacobsohn Reviews Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

The long-awaited debut of Captain Underpants on the big screen is finally here and although the movie is different from the books, it still manages to keep the spirit and humor of Dav Pilke’s source materials.

Since its debut in 1997, the Captain Underpants series sold fifty million books in the U.S. alone. Dreamworks Animation hopes to cash-in on the success as it helps the series transition onto the screen.

From the get go this movie channeled for me the Peanuts series, so don’t be surprised that once you get over the silly “fart jokes” this movie has a very solid message about friendship.

Our two protagonists, George and Harold, are fourth graders who can’t stop themselves from creating constant havoc at their school. Their latest prank is hypnotizing their principal, with a ring from a cereal box, to believe he is an imaginary super hero called; you guessed it, Captain Underpants. But fear not there is a happy ending…

The production team behind the movie is spearheaded by director, David Soren, who already left his mark on the animation world as the director of the Madagascar movies. In this movie, Soren created a down-to-earth world filled with fantastical happenings that somehow seem logical when you watch it. The perfect casting of Kevin Hart, as George, and Thomas Middleditch, as Harold, help give the movie real heart.

This movie will help you connect with your kids or just let your inner fourth grader burst out into the world.

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is sheer entertainment and deserves my THUMBS UP.

Ron Jacobsohn

June 1, 2017
Ron Jacobsohn Reviews Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

The fifth installment of the popular Disney franchise felt like it was running on autopilot, it hit all the right marks but it didn’t go anywhere.

Once considered a risk-taking Oscar nominated actor, Johnny Depp came back as Captain Jack Sparrow, most likely for the reportedly fifty million dollar paycheck.

If like me you have seen all the movies in the series, you are about to be disappointed. However, if you are a first timer to the Pirate series you probably will dig all the state-of-the-art effects and shticks by Depp.

My personal highlight in the movie was the cameo by Sir Paul McCartney as Uncle Jack, which film buffs will cherish forever.

And if you think Disney is going to put the Pirates franchise to bed after this one… think again…

Dead Men Tell No Tales was well acted, had nice effects and was entertaining but at two hours and nine minutes a bit too long for my taste. I give it a THUMBS IN THE MIDDLE.

Ron Jacobsohn

May 25, 2017
Ron Jacobsohn Reviews Baywatch

Most people who will go see the movie adaptation of Baywatch were probably not even alive twenty-five years ago when the TV show made household names of David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson…

In the movie version of “Baywatch”, Dwayne Johnson is a Tony Robbins-esque lifeguard whipping everyone into doing exactly what he wants especially the new kid with the six-packs, Zac Efron, a scorned Olympic medal winner who is trying to redeem himself as a lifeguard.

In theory lifeguards in swimwear and beautiful California beaches sound like a good concept but when the story goes nowhere you lose interest very fast. Dwayne Johnson literally carries the movie on his wide shoulders until the moment he gets knocked out and so does the whole flick.

Baywatch the TV series, which told the story of lifeguards playing detectives, was almost absurd when it originally aired, so re-creating a movie version should’ve at least have been accompanied with a solid story, which unfortunately this one does not.

I say lower your expectations and maybe you will find this one mildly entertaining. For me, it wasn’t enough to recommend someone to go invest in a ticket to go see it, therefore I have to give it a THUMBS DOWN!

Ron Jacobsohn

May 23, 2017